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Tag: digitisation

Yusen Logistics Improves Visibility and Efficiency with DexoryView

Posted on by David Priestman

Yusen Logistics, a global supply chain solution company, provides businesses with ocean and air freight forwarding, warehousing, distribution services and supply chain management that provide reliability, excellence and value. The company is constantly looking for ways in which it can improve its services to its end customers, including leading electronics manufacturers. Yusen Logistics has implemented a global visibility platform, DexoryView from Dexory, the global leader in AI-powered robotics and visibility solutions.

As a result of the deployment, Yusen Logistics is now able to conduct wall-to-wall scans of its entire warehouse within two hours each day. This process used to take over one and a half weeks each month and over 100 hours of manual labour. Previously, Yusen Logistics carried out two annual wall-to-wall checks of the entire warehouse, but through generating real-time data each day, the company has also been able to remove this task completely, saving an additional 205 hours of work annually.

The implementation of the Dexory technology will play a pivotal role in Yusen Logistics’ efforts in streamlining warehouse operations whilst ensuring seamless order fulfilment processes. Just one of the benefits means it can now analyse the entire warehouse and see how errors impact the overall workflow in the warehouse.

“Yusen Logistics are investing in digitisation and automation to provide our customers with real time visibility of their inventory. The use of robotics and automation helps to optimise our warehouse space, which reduces costs, improves performance and stock accuracy, and removes down time for manual stock takes,” said Darren Felstead, Head of Contract Logistics.

The collaboration between Yusen Logistics and Dexory represents a strategic alignment of expertise and innovation, with both companies at the forefront of transforming the industry. As Yusen Logistics looks ahead, it remains committed to leveraging the latest technologies and forging partnerships that further drive operational excellence and customer satisfaction.

“Third party logistics providers need to be able to execute on customer strategies and provide innovation and efficiency to drive both theirs and their customers’ businesses forwards,” says Oana Jinga, Chief Commercial and Product Officer and Co-Founder at Dexory. “Together, Dexory and Yusen Logistics are paving the way for a new era of supply chain management, powered by real-time data and our global visibility platform, that further enhance the value provision to their end customers.”

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Autonomous Robots, Data Intelligence

 

 

Fortna Announces Latest OptiSlot DC

Posted on by David Priestman

FORTNA, a leading automation and software company for the full logistics value chain, has announced the latest release of its intelligent slotting optimization software, FORTNA OptiSlot DC™, release 13.1. Driven by client feedback, industry research and domain expertise, the new release optimizes the software experience with expanded usability.

FORTNA OptiSlot release 13.1 enables businesses to easily expand the use of the solution through language and usability improvements. The first expansion is for businesses growing in additional geographies with a simple system language change for Spanish and German in addition to the previously supported English version. Additional release highlights include visibility and decision-making support, powered by dynamic, custom comparative reporting. With enhanced comparative reporting, users can easily customize reports in real time to display and analyze scenarios and highlight key metrics for solution selection, buy-in and delivery. Other software improvements include automatic project back-ups set to queue before and after significant strategy adjustments, API updates for users employing advanced scripting capabilities and error proofing to eliminate challenges before they occur.

“Today’s distribution environment is unpredictable,” says Jordan Mitchell, Senior Director, Product Management, FORTNA. “Balancing limited resources and inventory with demand while being profitable proves challenging. It is imperative that intelligent software, like FORTNA OptiSlot, provides supply chain professionals with an intuitive solution to adapt and optimize distribution operations to satisfy customer demands effectively.”

FORTNA OptiSlot release 13.1 launches a broader user experience initiative to make slotting an efficient process, supporting an essential step in clients’ digital transformation initiatives around the world.

FORTNA partners with the world’s leading brands to transform omnichannel and parcel distribution operations. Known world-wide for enabling companies to keep pace with digital disruption and growth objectives, we design and deliver solutions, powered by intelligent software, to optimize fast, accurate and cost-effective order fulfillment and last mile delivery. Our people, innovative approach and proprietary algorithms and tools ensure optimal operations design and material and information flow. We deliver exceptional value every day to our customers with comprehensive services and products including network strategy, distribution center operational design and implementation, material handling automated equipment, robotics and a comprehensive suite of lifecycle services

The Time for Supply Chain Visibility is Now

Posted on by David Priestman

Supply chain visibility has been a hot innovation topic for more than the last five years, as tracking technology has evolved and more benefits have been identified. But getting past the market hype, what real progress has been made, and what is left to be done to give supply chain and logistics professionals comprehensive visibility to their operations – especially within retail?

To answer this question, as part of a broader innovation study, Descartes, in conjunction with SAPIO Research, conducted a study of 1,000 supply chain and logistics executives in Europe and North America to gain a better understanding of how far innovations in supply chain visibility have been deployed.

The results of the study – Supply Chain and Logistics Innovation Accelerates, But Has Long Way to Go – show that visibility is contending with other major innovation initiatives and is mature in some transportation modes, but also still has a ways to go. There is, however, a significant variance in the length of that journey for companies based upon senior management’s understanding of its importance to the business. This point should not be lost by supply chain and logistics leaders.

Chris Jones (pictured), EVP, Descartes explains, and reveals key findings from Descartes’ recent research.

Contender in a crowded market

Digitisation has received a lot of attention because it’s closely aligned with supply chain and logistics innovation to transform company performance in ways that allow customers to see the positive difference. Supply chain and logistics operations are typically very extensive, and is something most retailers – bricks n’ mortar and ecommerce brands – can relate to. So it’s highly unlikely that companies would have digitisation programmes that address the entirety of their operations, and innovation themes would end up competing for the same resources. Therefore, senior management support is extremely critical to get to the top of the funding list. The study specifically asked if senior management thought that supply chain and logistics innovation was important – or not, and then cross referenced that answer with other questions to see what impact it had.

The research identified the top four digitisation initiatives companies have focused on as order fulfilment (47%), customer experience (45%) and transportation processes (44%) and supply chain visibility (43%). There was little difference in senior management support the for the first three results when evaluating who thought supply chain and logistics innovation was very important – or not. However, there was a significant difference in visibility results when senior management thought innovation was important (51%) compared to those who believe it was less important (30%).

What might be the reason for greater importance of senior management support for visibility innovation versus the others? The subject has been discussed for ages, but more practical deployments, especially for real-visibility, have become a reality in the last ten years. However, the other areas (order fulfilment, customer experience and transportation processes) are more widely understood by leadership and tie to business execution. This is why it is so important to educate senior management on the value of real-time visibility.

Supply Chain Visibility is Important

Given the significant disruptions of the last several years, supply chain visibility has become extremely important to manage supply chain and logistics performance. For senior management who believe innovation is very important, advanced tracking of truckload transportation (47%) was the top fully deployed innovation followed by fleet (45%) and courier (44%). Supply chain visibility is, however, rapidly maturing as between one-third to one-half of the respondents across all modes (i.e., truckload, fleet, courier, air, rail, ocean, LTL and barge) cited technologies in pilot or partial deployment.

Taking visibility information and integrating it into supply chain and logistics processes is where its value is fully exploited. Almost half (49%) of the respondents have already fully integrated real-time shipment tracking into their customer service solution, followed by integration with customer portals (36%), transportation management systems (TMS, 27%), supply chain control towers (23%) and dock appointment scheduling systems (23%). For fully deployed TMS integration with real-time shipment tracking, there was a significant difference between those who said senior management believes supply chain and logistics innovation is very important (34%) and those who think it’s less important (16%). The same was true for real-time shipment tracking integrated with a customer portal, with senior management who regard innovation as very important at 44%, compared to 23% for those who regard it as less important.

Competition

Competition is also shaping supply chain and logistics innovation and raising the importance of visibility. The top competitive innovation respondents cited was real-time shipment location (27%) followed by electric or alternative vehicles for more sustainable delivery (23%), digital customer experience (22%) and robotics to improve fulfilment capacity (21%).

Conclusion

Shipment and delivery visibility has become one of the top supply chain and logistics innovation initiatives as companies look for ways to better serve customers and manage inventory. It is also a differentiator that offers retailers the data and insights needed to a leap ahead of the competition.

While the value may be apparent to supply chain and logistics professionals, it’s not necessarily the case with senior management, and may be challenging for visibility programmes to compete with other innovation initiatives for funding. This is why it’s so important for supply chain and logistics organisations to educate senior management within their retail organisations about the value of visibility and where it can be deployed as it rapidly matures.

Where is your brand in its visibility innovation journey, and how have you gotten your senior management to see the opportunities that exist with it?

TeamViewer digitalises semiconductor manufacturer‘s warehouse operations

Posted on by David Priestman

TeamViewer, a leading global provider of remote connectivity and workplace digitalisation solutions, recently announced that the global semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries (GF) has deployed TeamViewer’s Augmented Reality (AR) platform Frontline to digitally transform its warehouse operations at its facility in Dresden, the largest semiconductor plant in Europe.

Among the major benefits that GF achieved through the implementation of TeamViewer’s solution is an up to 25% faster execution of warehouse processes, better employee ergonomics, a picking error rate close to zero and a reduction in waste of around 100,000 paper sheets per year.

Kevin Hidalgo, Senior Director of Logistics at GF, said: “At GF, we always strive to improve our operational efficiencies to better fulfil our customers’ needs. When looking for a solution to digitally transform and improve our warehouse operations, we found that an Augmented Reality based solution could really make a difference for us. Now, with the roll-out of TeamViewer Frontline, we were able to take efficiency, accuracy and sustainability of warehouse logistics to a whole new level.”

TeamViewer connects workers

Jan Junker, Executive Vice President Solution Sales & Delivery, commented: “Around 80% of the global workforce is not working at a desk, but in manufacturing, production, logistics or field service. With our AR solutions, enterprises have the first-time opportunity to also digitalise the tasks and processes from these areas and seamlessly connect the workers to the company’s existing digital infrastructure. The benefits that GlobalFoundries achieved in such short time speak for themselves.”

At the GF warehouse, the software guides the warehouse workers through the picking process with clear step-by-step instructions, displayed on the smart glasses directly in their field of view. Together with the integrated voice control, it provides 100% hands-free information to the workers, completely replacing the former paper-based process.

The end-to-end implementation of TeamViewer Frontline in the warehouse of GF’s Dresden facility was completed in only 10 weeks. TeamViewer is working closely with GF to identify other opportunities to use the solution and is exploring use cases beyond vision picking.

Digitization Improved Profits and Resilience for Logistics Businesses

Posted on by David Priestman

The UK’s transportation, manufacturing and logistics industries are accelerating digital technology adoption in the face of ongoing supply chain disruption, labour shortages and unsustainable increases in fuel costs. That’s according to new research carried out by Samsara with 1,500 operational leaders, including 200 in the UK, which reveals companies are focused on strengthening their operational resilience.

As fuel prices reach record highs, the new Samsara State of Connected Operations Report, reveals 27% of operations leaders in the UK have implemented technologies including artificial intelligence (AI) cameras, asset tracking, telematics and automation. This is expected to double to 58% by the end of this year and reach 90% by the end of 2023. The research reveals clear benefits to this technology investment too, with 95% of UK operations leaders who have digitally transformed their physical operations confirming this is improving their ability to weather disruptions, and 96% reporting increased net profits.

“When it comes to the physical operations that power our global economy, we are at a tipping point,” said Philip van der Wilt, VP & General Manager, Samsara, EMEA. “By accelerating digitisation, UK firms working in transport and logistics can connect their operations and access the real-time data they need to manage their business more effectively and efficiently.”

The Samsara report also reveals the key areas of prioritisation among UK operations leaders:
• 58% are increasing the monitoring of their powered assets such as lorries and vans to tackle issues such as engine idle time, fuel efficiency, and maintenance

• 50% are looking to accelerate their transition to electric vehicles (EVs) in the wake of rising fuel costs and the increasing availability of EVs and associated infrastructure

• 82% want to break down their organisational data to gain centralised visibility of all their operational data

“In the face of supply chain disruptions, labour shortages, and rising costs, operational agility is more important than ever. From planning routes more efficiently, improving fuel economy and introducing pre-emptive maintenance schedules, digitally transforming fleet-based operations can make a tangible difference to the bottom line,” van der Wilt added.

Successful digitisation of wine press hall in Bavaria

Posted on by Keith McKinley

One of Europe‘s most modern wine press halls is located in the Franconian town of Kitzingen in the southern German state of Bavaria. During wine season, several hundred tonnes of grapes are processed there daily. Around 2,000 grape containers need to be stored and tracked. For this reason, the Winzergemeinschaft Franken eG (GWF) emphasised digitalisation early during the construction of the hall.

The project was entrusted to digitisation specialist ENTIAC, relying on hardware from deister electronic.

The project goal was to ensure efficient and seamless communication between the forklifts in the wine press hall and the control software in the main office. Grape containers were to be directed to the correct storage location or directly to the storage vat or grape press. For this purpose, the forklifts had to be automatically supplied with corresponding driving orders after picking up and sorting out the containers.

Consistent documentation

In wine production, all processes must be fully documented. This becomes a real challenge when around 2,000 containers of 600kg of grapes each, coming from hundreds of wineries need to be moved around the 5,000 sq m hall area with the help of forklifts.

“In order to automate documentation and tracking, each of the four forklifts in the wine press hall was therefore equipped with one of the powerful, reliable wide-range readers from deister electronic,“ reports Jörg Dombrowski, responsible project manager at system integrator ENTIAC. “This communicates with one of our COM boxes, which is also attached to the forklift. Thanks to their robust design, the readers are ideally suited for the adverse conditions in the wine press hall.”

The grape containers are each equipped with four inconspicuously attached RFID sticker tags that are automatically read by the forklift when they are picked up. Information about the contents is stored on the tags – such as the grape quantity and variety and winery of origin. The ENTIAC-COM-Box sends this data via WLAN to the warehouse control software, which in turn automatically displays driving orders and destination storage locations to the driving personnel on a tablet on the forklift.

Fast implementation, fewer errors

The team of four forklift drivers was pleased with the shallow learning curve, the system-related working comfort and the low susceptibility to errors, summarises Dombrowski: “Without the system, we would have to get off the forklift for each container and do the documentation by hand scanner and paper list. Now it‘s all fully automatic.“

The decision-makers of the project – the logistics management, the management of the wine press station, the IT department and the GWF management – were pleased with the short and effective implementation phase: the system was ready to use for the 2021 grape harvest.

Challenge

  • Integration with existing control station and control/software solutions
  • Contactless identification of the grape containers when picked up by forklifts

Solution

  • Four TSU 200 wide range readers (logIdent)
  • 8,000 RFID sticker tags (four for each of the 2,000 grape containers)
  • Control hardware and software from ENTIAC

Benefits

  • Clear assignment & identification of the containers
  • Digital, complete documentation
  • Tracking of the grape containers throughout the entire process

 

DENSO solutions help digitalise logistics

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Due to the corona pandemic, logistics has to master its greatest challenges. Innovative technology from DENSO Wave Europe makes logistics processes leaner, faster and more efficient.

Logistics is under massive pressure: On the one hand, the industry has good growth prospects due to the corona-related growth in e-commerce. On the other hand, however, it has to meet increased customer demands and at the same time master the digitalisation.

The current study “Mobilising the Delivery Workforce: The State of Mobile Technologies in Transport and Logistics 2021” by Arlington Research shows that mobile-first technologies will play a key role in the delivery of goods in the final delivery area. 70% of those questioned are of this opinion. Almost half of the respondents also stated that technologies for implementing the mobile-first strategy will play the most important role in accelerating delivery processes.

DENSO Wave Europe, part of the Toyota Group, knows the challenges in logistics and the competitive pressure, which is increased by globalisation but also the call for more digitalisation. In logistics, it is also important to transport goods safely and just-in-time over ever longer distances.

“Transparent processes show potential for optimisation in logistics,” says Dirk Gelbrich, General Manager Technical Department at DENSO Wave Europe. “The Auto-ID solutions, handheld terminals and scanners as well as wearables from DENSO record data from picking to delivery. In this way, they provide essential information within the supply chain in order to make processes comprehensible and measurable,” he explains.

RFID technology also plays a key role in the digitalisation of the logistics industry. RFID ensures that processes along the supply chain become leaner, faster, and more efficient. Information on how DENSO Wave Europe can contribute to overcoming current and future challenges in logistics with its handheld terminals, scanners, wearables, RFID readers, and Auto-ID solutions, can be found here: https://www.denso-wave.eu/en/industries/transport-logistics.html

Logistics benefit from RFID devices and IoT solutions

In the future, it will become more and more important to accelerate delivery processes. In the above-mentioned study, 40% of the respondents said they want to invest in technology that accelerates deliveries. RFID readers are ideally suited for these projects as they help logisticians accelerate their processes and work more efficiently.

The RFID scanners from DENSO Wave Europe offer outstanding reading speed and robustness – a decisive advantage for logistics, but also for warehouse management and transport.

“With RFID, processes along the supply chain can be optimised. Additionally, inventory surpluses and shortages in the warehouse can be avoided with RFID and the appropriate mobile data collection devices. If logisticians can record accurate inventory data along their supply chain, a basic problem has already been solved and further optimisations to accelerate the processes can follow,” says Gelbrich, explaining the advantages of RFID when digitalising logistics.

The UR40 RFID reader from DENSO, for example, can read 700 RFID tags per second. This makes the RFID reader one of the fastest in the industry.

Another result of the study is that 80% of the transport and logistics companies surveyed are planning significant investments in technologies such as mobile devices, wearables or IoT devices and IoT solutions.

DENSO Wave Europe is also very well positioned in the field of IoT solutions and, with the ORiN IoT data management platform, offers an ideal tool for logistics and transport companies. “Practically speaking, it is not that simple to create a data-networked environment in a company,” says Gelbrich. For a smart factory, however, the technology to connect devices within the facility and to collect data from these devices for analysis purposes is essential.

“DENSO offers ORiN as the best solution. It is our IoT data management platform, which provides a middleware with which information from various automation devices can be collected more efficiently. The data can then be shared with other systems and cloud solutions,” says Gelbrich. Data can be freely forwarded and transformed between all connected devices and software systems and further steps can be planned accordingly.

ORiN can be used, for example, in the production sector for process optimisation, condition monitoring, and production control. Collected data can be viewed using built-in data analysis and display tools. “The logisticians are faced with the great challenge of having to make their own company processes faster and more efficient – a huge long-term task. But it can be mastered with DENSO Wave Europe, RFID, and innovative IoT solutions,” summarises Gelbrich.

Further information on the RFID scanners and IoT solutions from DENSO Wave Europe, and how companies can optimise processes in logistics, transport, and warehouse management, is available HERE.

For the European market, DENSO Wave Europe is the contact point for all enquiries on RFID, QR Codes, mobile data collection, handheld terminals, and scanners. The durable and robust terminals and scanners manufactured by DENSO are to be found in storage, logistics, at the POS, in production, and field & sales automation applications.

Short and informative video clips about the terminals, scanners, and solutions from DENSO Wave Europe can now be viewed on YouTube. The clips include the 20th anniversary of the QR Code, a company presentation, and introductions to the various devices for mobile data capture such as the BHT-1500, BHT-1400 and the GT20 scanner.

 

 

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